Sect. 3—HIRER'S DUTIES AND LIABILITIES 91

has no title, the bailee can have none (m). In the
absence of special provision in the agreement, it is no part
of the hirer's duty to take the goods to the owner, but
they must be available for return to the owner at the
hirer's address. It is for the owner to come and get
them (»).

(C) DUTY TO PAY THE RENT

Simple Hire.—It is the duty of the hirer of goods to
pay the rent at the time and place mentioned in the
agreement. The whole rent for the entire period of the
hiring is due to the owner, if the hiring has been for a
definite period and the hirer returns the goods before the
expiration of that period (o). If, however, the owner
receives the goods back before the expiration of the term
and accepts them as a termination of the hiring or does
anything which indicates a recission of the contract (e.g.,
sells the goods or hires them out to another), then he
will not be entitled to the payment of the whole of the
rent (p).

Hire-Purchase.—The same general principles apply
to hire-purchase agreements (except those to which the
Hire-Purchase Act, 1938, applies, which will be dealt with
in the next paragraph), but the whole question of payment
of rent is as a rule dealt with in detail in a hire-purchase
agreement, in particular the amount to be paid by the
hirer in addition to the accrued rent, if he returns the
goods before the conclusion of the hiring. This payment
is sometimes referred to in the agreement as being by way
of compensation for depreciation of the goods. It has
been held that such a clause does not amount to the

(m) Wilson v. Robinson, (1830), per Tenterden, C.J., at p. 456.
(n) Elsey & Co., Limited v. Hyde, unreported except in Jones and
Proudfoot's Notes on Hire-Purchase Law, p. 28 and p. 68.

(o) Wright v. Melville (1828), 3 C. & P. 542 ; 3 Digest 92, 239.
(p) Ibid. See text under heading " Owner's Rights," p. 74, ante.